My dad got me completely hooked on Changing Rooms and House Invaders when we visited him in Texas last month. Then I added Trading Spaces to the mix when I got back.
I’ve never done any kind of decorating before, but after watching those shows, I’ve been very inspired. Already I’ve reupholstered my yucky kid-stained kitchen chairs and painted our living room for the first time since moving in nine years ago.
We now have plans to paint just about every room in the house, and to do a bit of refurbishing as well.
I prefer CR, though. Some of the TS “designers” (Hilde) have no taste whatsoever, and don’t give a damn what the homeowners want. I like that the CR designers take the owners’ thoughts and desires into account. Plus their finished rooms are usually much better.
I watch Trading Spaces just to see what insane shit Doug and Hildie will think of next. I’m appalled and fascinated by those two, and my favorite episodes are when bothof them are on.
I also enjoy watching Laurie to see which shade of organge she’ll choose to paint a room. I don’t tihnk I’ve ever seen a room of hers that wasn’t orange.
Vern is by far my favorite. His rooms always turn out beautiful, and never at the expense of the owner’s wishes. (But he’s not nearly as much fun to watch as Doug is.)
Being in the UK, I haven’t seen Trading Spaces. I love Changing Rooms and Ground Force (Tommy Walsh, mmmmmm). I really like the new format of Home Front, where Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen does an interior, and Diarmuid Gavin does a garden.
I could be wrong, but I think both the couches AND the covers were from IKEA, because they weren’t exactly the color she wanted, but close enough.
You’re right about the ceiling fans though. I can’t understand why a) the homeowners are so ga-ga over them and b) why the designers are so offended by them.
Whenever I see it listed in the guide, I think it is the movie Trading Places. The I turn to it and am disappointed. That has probably happened no less than 20 times.
I saw an episode tonight where Genvieve’s team screwed up the room over night, and then when they showed the finished product, you could see the mistakes on the trim. Very unpleasant.
Oh God! The only person MORE tastless, and MORE freaky then either SOB Doug or Queen Bitch Hildy.
I have to say I love the carpenters, and Frank, but if some unskilled neighbor is going to screw around in a room at my house, I want perfectionist Vern cracking the whip.
I can’t watch this show. IMHO, it has nothing to do with neighbors redecorating each others’ rooms. It has to do with decorators using neighbors as laborers to implement their ideas with little to no regard to either the neighbors ideas or homeowners’ needs (i.e. straw walls). These decorators are not advisors or consultants, they seem to simply view this as a showcase for their “flair”.
Looks like I’m in the minority here. For the record, I hate the “jaunty” (highly irritating) music, I think their designs are uniformly atrocious, especially when they turn their attention away from the furniture and start creating “art” for the wall and such, I don’t think that carpenter (Ty?) is one bit funny, and what’s more I don’t really believe he is a carpenter.
The only thing I can’t figure out is, why do I always watch it when I come across it?
Not Dez!!
I thought they actually got rid of her cause she was sooo bad! Lime green walls with blue and white strips and red. She thinks she so ‘artsy’ and cool with the stupid hats!
I think Hilde has a very disturbed way about her like somehow she became psycologically damaged goods-her voice mannerisms and wtf–high heels???
Crying fireplace lady had me in tears I was laughing so hard!
I want a tour of the designers homes!!!
I just saw the makeover segment and Ty and Amy looked great-but Ty was goofing off way too much to the point that he was annoying!
I have this vision in my mind of an episode where Frank walks in with the family cat in one hand and a paint brush and a bunch of copper wire in the other and says "You know, I was looking at this cat . . . "
OldBroad, it helps if you remember that the people hiring the designers are not the homeowner: the designers work for the show ,and it’s the show that ponies up the supply budget as well. Their job is to amuse the viewers, and the homeowners are taking a calculated risk that amusing the viewers will have the fringe benefit of giving them a room they like.
I only really feel sorry for people when something truly irrevocable is done: Frank’s fiascos just amuse because they are almost always just paint and craft projects that can be removed in one more 48-hour marathon. Hay on the walls (or two by fours nailed to the wall–did oyu all see that?) is a hell of a lot more diffucult to undo.
One thing I would like to know is how much contact there is between the designers, the team in the room, and the homeowners before the show. I’ve gotten the impression that all they see are pictures of the room and maybe a phone call or two. It makes sense that the designers can’t make many changes “the day off”–everything goes together, and they don’t have much time.: in cases where a designer has designed a whole room around purple and then is told that morning that purple makes the homeowner retch, I don’t think there is much they can do.
One of the homeowners who just finished filming for Season Three posted her experiences on the Trading Spaces message board over at the TLC site. Here is the thread.
Looks like the Discovery Channel/TLC is adding at least two more design shows to their lineup further achieving their goal of hiring the gayest men in America.
Did anyone see Saturday night’s Berkeley makeovers? I thought the sorority house black, white & silver room was pretty spiffy. But the poor frat guys! What on earth are they going to do with the lime green, orange and brown mess that Doug wrought? I think he did it just to get back for the guys leaving the room in a mess that had to be cleaned up before any design work could begin. IMHO, that room was right up there with the Hay-on-the-Walls mess of Hilde’s.
The lime green and orange was bad, and it was probably even brighter in person. But it might have been passable if it hadn’t been paired with that poo brown that Doug is so fond of. And what was the deal with sticking one bright red chair in the middle of that?
I’m so glad the girls prevented him from removing the beer lights. Took him down a peg. Finally.
I also laughed when they deliberately got paint on his nice shirt. Serves him right.
I like watching the show. But I hate the aftermath:
“Oswald, can you do that in this room?”
:smack:
This, Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, and all those damn ‘do it yeself decorators’ can kiss my ass. They made my collegiate working years a living hell. At least Bob Vila stuck to framing.
Tripler
If I hear “But Martha did it this way . . .” one more time. . . :mad:
One thing I hate is when the neighbors try to keep the designers from doing certain things that they, themselves, don’t like… but the home owners might very well like. Once in a while, at the end of the show when the homeowners finally see the end results, they will end up liking something that their neighbors strongly protested against but the designer insisted on.
If you aren’t prepared to leave your home, (or your neighbors home), in the hands of these designers, then don’t apply to be on the damn show. Give suggestions if you want. Tell the designers what you might like done to your home, (like if you want bright colors). Leave whatever furniture you don’t want messed without of the room. Don’t go on the show if you can’t have fun with the end results.